Mop



Oct. 16, 1934. A. H. EDWARDS 139771473 MOP Filed June 29, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l Mw W @V Exif; #m52 v A. H. EDWARDS Oct. 16, 1934.

MOP

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 29, 1953 Patented Oct. 16, 1934 e UNITED STATI-:s

PATENT 5 Claims." (Cl. 15g-229) This invention'relates to mcps of the general nature disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,545,510 granted July 14th, 1925 and U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,849,150 granted March 15th,

It is anV object of my present invention to improve Vupon the mops disclosed in said above identified patents by materiallysimplifying the construction through theV elimination of an attachment head or other device for securing the ends of the resilient swab holder thus economicing in the cost of manufacture...

It is another object to providean improved mopwherein all metal or abrasive parts will be covered and protected by the swab; wherein the construction of the swabV holder and its connection with the handle as well as the construction of the swab itself is such that swabs may easily be removed and replaced upon the holder in the manner of a mitten.

A further object is the provision of an improved mop, the swab of which is distended by a bowed 4or annularly arranged resilient element and which is relatively thin, enabling the swab.y to workin a confined space; and which, through the resiliency of the holder, may beshaken to set up a-rapid vibration of the swab for the removalof dust and dirt,.- M

A stillfurther object is the provision of a mop including an annularly arranged swab holder with a swab in the form of a mitten removably disposed thereon and traversing the entire areay of the 'holder and provided with .swab yarn or the like on both sides thereof. l 1

Theseand other objects and advantages Lof the invention will be more fully s et forth in the following description made inrconnectionwith the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views, yand in which:- j

.Figi is a plan View with some portions broken away showing the assembled mop;

' Fig. `2 is a fragmentary view showing the elon `gated helical 'element which forms the swab holder;

Fig. 3is a detail view showing the outer porfonjof the handle withf'the thread for securing 'the ends of the swab holder; n

` Fig. 4 is a plan view showing the swab holder 'operatively attached to the handle;

Fig. 5 is a detail View showing a suitable yarn element for the mop;Y -1 e Fig. 6 is a cross -section taken substantially along the line 6--6 of Fig. -1 with the outer. ends of the yarn broken away to more clearly bring out the structureof themitten and its distension by A u the resilient molder, and

Fig.Y '7 is a plan View of the assembled swab mitten with the yarn detached, the dotted lines indicating the location and arrangement of the yarn carrying strips.

I The embodiment of my invention illustrated includes an elongated handle -8 which may be constructed from a woo-den pole of small cross section. l The outer portion of this handle is turned or machined to provide attachment means for the -swabholden To this end, asshown, a section Aof the .handle adjacent the outer extremity is provided with a coarse screw thread 8c to a distancerof preferably a few inches and the louter extremity itself .is diminished somewhat and left `smooth to `forma stud 8b the purpose of which will later be explained. While I have illustrated `a complete screw thread 8a, it will, of course, be .understood that thread segments or other equivalent protruding yattachment elements may be formed on the atttachment end of the .handle for screw engagement with the holder. It will also be apparent that instead Aof threadingthe outer .end of the handle a metal ferrule having an eX- v.ternal screwvthread like the thread 8a may be utilized. I e y n My swabholder is in the form of an elongated flexible and preferably resilient element 9 having helicallyrformved ends 9a and 9b respectively. l e

prefer to. utilize an integrally formed coiled spring which has its ends ofiarger diameter than the greater part of its length or body. The coils at the Vlends 9a. Vand 9b are valso preferably spaced `slightly apart, while the coils of the smaller body portion" are preferably disposed in close relation. .It willlbe noted that one end'(9b) of the swab holder has the` 'spaced' coils extending for a greater distance'than the opposite or left hand end`9a. the smaller `body portion sof that substantially uniform. expansion of the coilsl will take place whentheswab'holder is bowed.

Inassemblingthe'device the elongated swab holder Y9 is flexed in the shape of a loop andthe shorter enlarged end 9a is meshed with the inner portic'nof the longer enlargedY end 9b. That is, the' coils of the respective end portions are "actually intermeshed or interlocked as clearly Yshown in Fig. 4 leaving the extremity of the longer or right hand and enlarged end 9h in extended position beyond the meshed coils whereby it may be screwed' onto the thread or attachment means 8a at the outer end of the handle 8. The extended studb at the attachment end of the .f

The enlarged ends preferablytaper into handle, it will be noted, projects within the meshed portions of the ends, fitting the inner periphery thereof snugly and positively preventing disengagement or unlocking of the meshed ends. The pitch and width of the threads are such that the helical extremity of the end 9b will nicely fit the same and once applied there will be no tendency for the holder to unscrew, since any torque in a direction to release, causes contracting of the resilient helix causing it to: bind very tightly to the attachment portion of the handle. No additional securing means are therefore needed and in fact the resilient holder is firmly locked l upon the handle when the extremity of the end 9b is screwed to extreme position on the externally threaded portion 8a. Y

I prefer to provide a detachable swab which lits the resilient holder in the mannerV of a glove or mitten and in this connection, as shown in Fig. '7, a pair of flexible blanks 10 are prepared in more or less the shape of a paddle or racket. The blanks may be constructed from cloth such as duck or canvas or some other suitable flexible sheet material. To the outer surfaces of each of the blanks l0 swab yarn is secured covering the surfaces with a thick mat of loose Aended material which forms an efficient medium for co1- leoting dust, dirt, moisture and the like.

I prefer to first construct yarn elements, stitching a multiplicity of arranged yarn lengths transversely upon a heavy cloth strip 11 of very narrow width. A fragment of such an element is illustrated in Fig. 5 and it will be noted that the strip is not disposed centrally of the yarn lengths, but is preferably positioned to divide the lengths unequally so that when the yarn is folded in application to the mitten the ends of the lengths will overlap. The yarn lengths 12 are laid transversely on the strip 11 and may be securely stitched thereto by a machine. An elongated yarn-carrying element is stitched or otherwise secured to each of the blanks and arranged in loop formation, symmetrically with the edge of the blank, as indicated by the dotted lines A shown in in Fig. 7. A second and shorter yarncarrying element is stitched longitudinally and centrally of the blank in the position indicated by the dotted lines B, also shown in Fig. 7. Both of the blanks are thus 'covered with a thick matting of yarn and are then stitched together along the dotted lines C forming the envelope or mitten shown in Fig. 7 and leaving the reduced end of the envelope open, as well as the opposite and enlarged end through a distance sufficient to'insert the swab holder when thersame has been yieldingly pressed together to reduce its width.

Securing means, such as the snap button 13 may be provided to close the outer open endof the envelope, although the resiliency of the spring and its normal maximum width will prevent withdrawal of the envelope.

The envelope is of course applied to the Vswab holder by passing the free end of the handle longitudinally through the larger vopen end and then through the restricted open end and sliding the handle through to such positionvthat the holder by first being pressed to diminish its width, is positioned symmetrically within the envelope. The length of the restricted portion of the envelope is such as to cover the-.meshed helical ends 9a and 9b of theholder as well as the extremity of the end 9b whichis attached to the attachment portion of the holder Vand the resiliency of the swab holder `distendsthe,en--

velope nicely affording a very thin mop which may be inserted in small spaces.

The flexibility and resiliency of the holder enable the mop to be compressed to conform to the shape of recesses, etc., in dusting.

It will be noted that while a loop shaped or annular holder is utilized, the entire area of the holder is traversed by swab material on both sides thereof. f

The inter-meshing of 'the ends of .the resilient helical holder and the external connection with the handle add flexibility to the mop head, which facilitates cleaning and dusting.

Y To remove dust or dirt from the mop it is only necessary to vigorously shake the handle, thereby producing a rapid vibration upon the resilient vholder which rapidly expels dust and dirt. v From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have provided a very simple, highly cicient mop`which may be manufactured at low cost, which eliminates the attachment heador other clamping means for lsecuring .the swab holder to the handle and which providesa degree of flexibility andY resiliency heretofore not ate tained in mop construction.

`It willfurtherbe seen that all metal or abrasive parts ofthe swab` holder are4 completely covered by the swab in its extended `handle-covering portion. The meshing of the ends of the spring and the screw attachment of the extended longer helical end 9b afford a highly resilient Vand effective attachment means. An attempt to unscrew the vconnected end 9b from the handlecauses the helix to bind itself more tightly upon the threaded' portion.

My mop with the swab holder and swab constructed in the manner disclosed is very thin and will pick up dust on both sides of the swab. It will be noted there are no kopenings in the swab other than the end openings in the envelope which allow the handle andswab holder to be slipped through. Y

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, proportionsand larrangement of the parts, without departing from the scope of my invention, which, generally stated, consists in a devicecapable of carrying out the objects above set forth and in the novel parts and'combinations of parts disclosed and denedin the appended claims.'

' What is claimed isiv l. In a' mop, a handle having at its outerl end attachment means inthe nature of an' external screw thread, an elongated flexible swab holder arranged in the form of aloop and having a'pair vofhelical ends which are intermeshed substantially axially, at least one of said helical ends-having screw engagement withr said thread and a swab mounted on said holder and theou'ter end of said handle having ajlongitudinal projection `extending into the .intermeshed portion of said helical ends to preventdisconnection ofthe same.

2. In a mop, a handlehaving, adjacent` its-outer end, attachment means in the nature of an external screw thread, an elongated coiledspring Yconstituting a Aswab holder. and arranged 'inthe form of a loop and'having helical endsl'which are intermeshed axially and '.interlocked tofo'r1`1 1 a stem, said stem having screwengagement' with said thread forv attachmenttohsaid handleand a swab mounted on said holder. y i

3. In a mop, a handle having a diminished outer extremity and having an external screwthread inmediately adjacent thereto, an elongatedcoiled spring constituting a swab holder arranged in the form of a loop and having its helical ends meshed and interlocked to form a stem, one of said ends projecting beyond the other, said projecting end having screw engagement with the thread of said handle and the diminished extremity of said handle extending into the meshed and interlooked portions of said spring ends to prevent disconnection of the same.

4. In a mop, a handle, a swab holder in the form of an elongated resilient element arranged in the form of an oval loop, means for securing the ends of said swab holder to one end of said handle and a swab comprising an envelope shaped similar to said holder and surrounding the same and having a tubular extension at its inner end covterior screw thread, an elongated iiexible swab holder arranged in the form of a loop and having a pair of helical ends which are detachably intermeshed substantially axially to form a stem, said stem having screw engagement with said thread for attachment to said handle and a swab mounted on said holder.

'ALICE H. EDWARDS. 

